The Nocturne Pirates
by Lord Lycaon
Summary: The skies of Equestria are in peril. Pirates have been raiding vessels for whatever valuables they might carry. Having only now learned the identity of the pirate captain, Celestia assigns the Mane 6 to stop the scoundrels. But the pirates have a secret that could shake Twilight Sparkle's moral foundation to its very core.
1. Prologue

Winds blew strongly, but stably, as a single trading airship sailed over the land of Equestria from the Crystal Empire with a shipment of valuable gems and resources that can only be found in the arctic. The ship's captain, a unicorn named Portside, stood at the ship's foredeck, feeling the breeze through his mane as he gazed up at the nighttime sky. The stars twinkled silently alongside the full moon's gentle glow, giving him just the right amount of light to study the star chart that he held aloft with his magic. If his assumptions were right – and they usually were – they would arrive at Canterlot by noon tomorrow.

Portside nodded with small smirk as he rolled up his map and stowed within one of the pockets on his uniform, right next to the finely crafted sword that was more for display than anything, though that's not to say that he didn't know how to use it. He stayed where he was, though, admiring the elegant night sky that Princess Luna must've worked rather hard on. The weather complimented the sky's beauty as well; tranquil, calm, soothing. Perfect for sailing.

After a few minutes, he heard the sound of somepony coming up from below the deck, and turned to see the stallion who had signed on as a temporary guard until they got to Canterlot. The white unicorn stallion saw the captain and made his way over to his side.

"Good evening, Captain," greeted Shining Armor.

"Evening, Princey," Portside replied jokingly. "Why are you up so late? Can't sleep?"

Shining chuckled at that. "I could ask you the same thing." He looked up at the sky for a moment, then back to the captain with a serious expression. "Honestly, I'm getting kind of anxious here. There've reports of pirates in this area recently."

Portside nodded with an equally serious look. "And they only strike at night, when it's more difficult to see." The captain made an almost disgusted expression. "Cowards, the lot of them! But I have to admit, it does make for an effective strategy."

"They hit hard and fast," Shining Armor agreed. "They rarely leave anything of value behind except for the ship and its crew. They're almost frighteningly thorough when they strike."

"Aye," Portside stated. He gave a confident smirk then. "But that won't help them here. If they think they can take this ship, then they've never dealt with Captain Portside and the crew of the _Sun's Blessing_."

Shining Armor shook his head with a light chuckle. Portside certainly wasn't lacking in confidence in his crew. Though maybe he had too much confidence. "I've heard of your record, Captain. The last time Equestria had pirate troubles, your crew was the last to be attacked, and the pirates were finally apprehended. You did good work. But these new guys are said to be mostly unicorns and pegasi, and that each unicorn is highly skilled in magic. You can't take any of them lightly."

"Bah! You'll see. Those pirates come around tonight-!" He stopped in the middle of his sentence. He looked around, looking perturbed. "Hold on. Something's not right."

"What do you mean?" Shining asked with a raised eyebrow. "Everything seems fine."

"No," Portside responded. "The wind just changed. It was moving us forward not two seconds ago. Now it's pushing against us." The captain held a look of suspicion. "My pegasi said that the wind would guide us all the way to Canterlot, and that we wouldn't face any kind of storms or anything. Something is very wrong here."

Shining Armor looked around as well, trying to see anything out of the ordinary. He felt himself getting tense all of a sudden. He could sense that the captain was right. Something felt… off now. He kept searching for anything abnormal until his eyes fell upon a strange-looking cloud that hovered by the moon. It was vaguely shaped like another ship. And it was drawing closer. And as it did, a fog began to envelop the ship. An unnatural fog.

"Okay," the white unicorn said as his horn began to glow, preparing himself for an attack. "This doesn't seem totally normal." He took a step back, feeling nervous as the fog fully surrounded the ship. He could barely see his own hoof in front of his face. He could just make out the captain's own horn glowing with a ready spell as well.

Suddenly, something ran into the ship's side, knocking both unicorns off balance. Shining Armor had had only just gotten back into a stable stance when he heard the sounds of dozens of hooves thundering over the deck. There was shouting as well, as the crew of the _Sun's Blessing_ came up to confront whoever was attacking the ship.

"Something's hit the starboard hull!" somepony shouted over the sound of clashing metal.

"All hooves on deck!" Captain Portside shouted as he drew his sword with his magic. "We're under attack! Pirates!" He turned to Shining Armor. "I hope you're good in a fight, Princey. It's about time you pulled your own weight around here!" The captain then charged off into the fight, leaving the other stallion at the ship's foredeck.

Shining Armor immediately made his way toward the main deck, where most of the fighting was going on. The instant he stepped hoof down there, someone charged him with a sword held high with their magic. The white unicorn quickly erected a barrier to deflect the blade, then shot a bolt of magic at his attacker, who was sent flying across the deck. He looked around frantically. The fog was only just beginning to clear up. He could make out the appearances of the attackers now.

They all looked like they hadn't bathed or showered in a few days, wearing ragged clothes with the occasional bandana, uncovered heads being home to wild, unruly manes. Each of the pirates looked as though they were thrilled to be in a fight.

In almost no time at all, Shining Armor was surrounded by six of the attackers. One of them, a pegasus, rushed in to tackle him. Shining created another barrier, which the pegasus bounced off of painfully. Two other pirates, both unicorns, shot bolts of magic at his barrier, to which he responded with his own burst of offensive magical attacks, which knocked the attackers back several feet away. The remaining three pirates, two pegasi and one Earth Pony, all rushed in an almost berserk fashion. Shining bucked the Earth Pony right in his face and shot the two pegasi down with bolts of magic, then galloped his way through battle, hitting the pirates where he could.

Eventually, Shining managed to find Portside, who was busy fending off four pirates with his magically held sword. The captain actually laughed as he fought his attackers, yelling at them to fight harder. Out of instinct, Shining Armor blasted two of the pirates away, catching the other two and Portside by surprise. Fortunately, Portside was the first to recover, and shot one pirate away with his own magic bolt, then swung his blade at the last pirate's feet, tripping him to the ground, then kicked him in the face, knocking him out cold.

Portside faced Shining Armor with a slightly annoyed look. "I didn't need help, Princey," he said over the sounds of fighting.

"We don't have time for pride, Captain!" Shining responded. "We have to get these pirates off the ship before they cause any significant damage!"

Portside looked like he was about to argue, but instead nodded in agreement, even grinning a little. "Let's teach these dogs a lesson, then!" With that, both unicorns charged back into the fray, duking it out with any pirates that were bold enough or dumb enough to challenge them.

The fighting lasted for a good full hour before any real progress was made. The crew of the _Sun's Blessing_ managed to chase most of the aggressors off the ship. Soon enough, all of the pirates had retreated back to their own ship. All, save for one.

Portside approached the pirate with a smirk on his face. The pirate wasn't easy to make out in the darkness raised by the fog, though his unicorn horn was easy enough to notice. "So, lad, you're still willing to attempt to pilfer our cargo, eh?"

The cocked his head slightly to the right. Then he chuckled… in a mare's voice.

"Attempt?" the lady pirate parroted in mocking tone. "We already have what we came for."

"What?" Shining asked in surprise.

"Nonsense," Portside replied skeptically. "You couldn't have gotten our cargo. All of your crew were chased back to your ship. Besides, even if you got everything, we aren't about to let you go." The crewmen all shouted their agreements and bared their weapons. Portside once again wore that cocky smirk of his. "Give up, lass."

The pirate chuckled again. "You really shouldn't underestimate me," she said.

Portside rolled his eyes. "Get her, boys!" At the order, the armed crew charged at the lady pirate.

She just laughed in response, her horn glowing with a dark blue aura, drawing a pair of long rapiers from her hips. She swung her blades around in rapid, graceful movements, moving her body right along with the twin weapons, occasionally shooting a bolt of magic at somepony to thin out the number of aggressors some. By the time she reached Portside and Shining, everyone else was either unarmed and shocked or out cold. She held her blades in place in an X around Portside's neck, freezing him place, his eyes wide. The pirate mare's grin was invisible in the darkness, but obvious to everyone.

"Remember this night, Captain," she said calmly. She then suddenly turned and bucked him in the chest, launching him right into Shining Armor. She then sheathed her blades as she galloped off back to the edge of the ship and jumped onto the railing. She faced the crew of the _Sun's Blessing_. "This was the night that you met Captain Raven Blackmane of the _Queen Nocturne!_ Farewell!"

With that, she leaped off the railing and levitated herself safely onto her ship. When she landed, she even gave a mocking salute as her vessel sailed off faster than any other ship.

Portside managed to recover from the mare's attack on him and hurried over to the edge of his ship, but Raven Blackmane and her crew were already gone from sight. He was already in a cursing fit when a crewman galloped out from belowdecks and approached the captain. "Sir! Our cargo's gone!"

"What!?"

"There were holes drilled into the floor from the outside! They must've had pegasi fly under us and steal everything while we were up here fighting."

Shining Armor then trotted up to them, and, just before Captain Portside could go into a rage, said, "We have to get to Canterlot and tell the princesses what happened here. And I'll need to write a letter explaining the situation to my wife."

Portside looked as though he was about to argue, but stopped himself. He sighed in defeat, unable to think of argument to Shining's words. "Fine," he said. "But my crew is going to bring those pirates down. Even if it's the last thing I do."

"Fair enough," Shining replied. The captain grumbled something under his breath and headed off to his cabin, ordering his crew to get back to work to get them to Canterlot as soon as possible. As the sky captain entered his cabin fuming, Shining Armor sighed and looked off in the direction that the ship called the _Queen Nocturne_ had sailed off in. He narrowed his eyes, knowing one thing for certain: Portside wasn't the only one who wanted to be a part of the group that took down Raven Blackmane.


	2. The Captain's Anger

**Okay, I need say something. This story was initially inspired by the fan-made song "The Lunar Pirate" by Carbon Maestro. If you guys haven't heard it yet, look it up on YouTube. Carbon makes awesome songs based on MLP. Trust me. It's more than worth a look. Also, I realize that this chapter is fairly short. Sorry about that. I got all that I thought would be necessary for this particular part of the story. Enjoy.**

_Their swords clashed as they dueled, sparks flying from the clanging steel, lightning flashing blindingly around them. The two captains gritted their teeth as they struggled against each other, neither gaining the upper hoof. The second captain, murder in his eyes, swung his blade low at his nemesis's hooves in an attempt to trip her._

_ She smirked and hopped forward over the attack, using the momentum of her leap to land a brutal punch in her opponent's face. The enraged captain staggered back and glared at her._

_ "I will have your head, scum!" he roared in a mindless fury._

_ "You'll have to try harder than that, mister," she replied with a cocky grin, readying her sword. "You can't work halfway trying to beat me!"_

"Princess Luna!" a guard called from outside Luna's door, startling her back to reality. "Princess Celestia requires your presence in the throne room."

The Princess of the Night sighed. "Very well. I shall be there momentarily." The guard announced his acknowledgement and left to inform Celestia. Luna looked down at the small stack of paper that she had created. Sighing again, she set down her quill by the stack and left her desk. She then left her chamber and headed for the throne room, where her sister, along with Princess Cadance and Shining Armor and the Mane 6, were waiting. There was also a ship captain. He didn't look very pleased.

"Good timing, Luna," Celestia said with her usual cheerful grin. Luna nodded in response and took her place at her sibling's right side. "Now that my sister is here, we can begin properly. Captain Portside, if you would be so kind as to explain what happened…"

"Of course, Your Highness," the sky captain said with a courteous bow of his head. "My ship, the _Sun's Blessing_, was attacked by that pirate band that's been running amok in Equestria's skies lately. They made off with all of the gemstones that were to be delivered here from the Crystal Empire, then they disappeared."

"Just like every other reported attack," Twilight Sparkle observed. "They strike fast and leave just as quickly."

"They're a tricky bunch," said Shining Armor with a nod. "We didn't even know that they had some of their pegasi breaching the ship's hull. Their captain was also considerably skilled with a sword."

"You met their captain?" Luna inquired.

"Yes. A unicorn mare. We couldn't get a clear look at her, but she called herself Raven Blackmane, and she identified her ship as the _Queen Nocturne_."

The night princess's eyes widened ever so slightly at this. Nopony even noticed the tiny movement of her brow.

Celestia thought heavily on this. "It isn't much," she said, "but this is more information than anyone else has been able to give us. We will need to find this Raven Blackmane soon. All of Equestria's trading routes are vulnerable as long as she and her crew are unaccounted for."

"Why don't you just set up a bunch of guards at the routes?" Rainbow Dash suggested.

Cadance shook her head. "That wouldn't work. These pirates are highly unpredictable. All we know about them for certain is that strike at night. Add the fact that there are hundreds of trade routes in Equestria – land, sea, and air – and setting up guards would only waste precious resources that Equestria is gradually losing."

Twilight thought on that for a few moments. "We'll need to lure them out then," she said as a plan began to form in her head. "We could leak information that a ship is leaving Canterlot to go to another nation to trade. But it won't have anything on it."

"We bait 'em out," Applejack summarized. Twilight nodded. "Well, what're we waitin' for? Let's get to it!"

"Hold on there, lass!" Captain Portside interrupted. "These aren't typical thugs that we're dealing with. These pirates will surely kill you if you get in their way."

"That doesn't sound very nice," Pinkie Pie stated rather obliviously.

Portside scowled at the pink mare. "And that's why it wouldn't do to have mares like yourselves running about on my ship. You'd get yourselves hurt, or worse."

"Excuse me," Rarity said as politely as possible, "but isn't it true that it was a mare who trounced you and your crew?" Portside hesitated to answer. "And isn't it true that not one, three princesses are in agreement that we should be present to tend to the situation? And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't one of those princesses going to attend our little gambit with this bait trap?"

The sky captain could only sneer in response. He couldn't deny the mare's arguments. He scoffed and turned. "Fine," he said. "Know this: once we have Blackmane, I'll be the one to finish her off." With that said, he left the throne room, mumbling something about mares being trouble.

"Geez," Rainbow muttered. "What's that guy's problem?"

"Captain Portside is very set in his own ways," Celestia explained. "He personally doesn't believe that a mare could match a stallion in quite a few things unless they were alicorns."

Twilight sighed at that. "Well, this'll certainly be interesting. My friends and me teaming up with a sexist sky captain. Fun."

"How's that gonna be fun?" Pinkie asked, earning an irritated groan from her friends. "What?"

-o-

Portside grumbled to himself as he trotted angrily down the halls of Canterlot Castle, fuming at everything he had just learned. Mares on _his_ ship? And _teenagers_, no less? This was absolutely unacceptable! They had no place on his vessel! They didn't have the skills, talent, or anything close to the experience needed to work productively on his ship! But he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. The _princesses_ had made their decision.

_To Tartarus with them!_ he cursed. _This is a stallion's job!_ "Idiotic, that's what this is."

_It _is _rather foolish, now isn't it?_ Portside jumped at the sudden voice. He gave the hall he was in a scanning sweep. He was completely alone. He could've sworn he just heard an old mare's voice just now.

"Who's there!?" he demanded. "Show yourself!"

That voice chuckled, almost as if it was amused. _Don't get your tail in a knot,_ the voice said. _I'm no threat to you. I'm merely talking to you so that I can strike a deal with you._

"A deal?" Portside asked.

_We both share a common enemy, you see. The pirate who humiliated you._

"Blackmane…" The captain trailed off. He narrowed his eyes. "I'm listening."

The mare's voice chuckled again. _I knew you would, Captain._


End file.
